Nortel's Bountiful Harvest CiM- Creation Is Messy Glass Sampler Testing

Just a quick post to show a couple of photos of a new set of beads using base glasses from Nortel’s CiM - Creation is Messy glass sampler named Bountiful Harvest. 

You can order this sampler of 15 colors that are both new and former favourites via Nortel’s new online shopping cart here.

Colors include:

CIM277 Phoenix

CIM720 Autumn

CIM442 Prairie Grass

CIM465 Oobleck

CIM718 Indian Summer

CIM216 Monarch

CIM217 Harvest

CIM106 Fire Cracker

CIM780 Maple

CIM121 Garnet

CIM487 Poison Apple

CIM729 Serengeti

CIM211 Orange Crush

CIM308 Ochre

CIM470 Eden

These colourful beads of layered dots and swirls are just a peek of the colors within this sampler. I hope to create more in a future torch session.

#creationismessy

#cimglass

#cimbountifulharvest

#nortel

@creationismessy

@nortel_mfg 

Queen's Court Sampler - Part 3 Results

This post will cover the last of the test beads using the CiM - Creation Is Messy glass colors within the Nortel Queen's Court Sampler pack.

This first set of crystal  and barrel shaped beads were created with stripes of the following Limited Run colors:
Ocher, an opaque yellow
Monarch, an opaque yellow orange
Budgerigar, a misty opal kiwi green
Oobleck, an opaque vibrant acid green
Each bead was sprinkled with Val Cox rare Purple Rose made with Z-99 glass frit. 
I rarely use my small supply of this frit as it is no longer available for purchase.
A few beads got a wrap of 99% fine silver wire which was melted in for a tactile feel.

These fine silver wire wrapped beads were created on bases of CiM Butter Pecan, a creamy non reactive opaque beige and CiM Maroon Ltd Run, a dense maroon red. 
The glass melted smoothly and there was no adverse reaction against the silver so colors stayed true.

These mini beads were created on bases of CiM Red Alert Ltd Run, a bright red and CiM Blue Arrow Frog Ltd Run, a bright opaque blue. 
Simple dots of CiM Peace for a classic look.

The next few posts for this blog will review some colors within another Nortel Sampler named Bountiful Harvest as well as previewing new 2020 CiM color releases!

Stay Tuned and thank you for following Pendragonfyre Tales!

Smiles,
D.

Nortel's Queen's Court Sampler Testing

Just a quick post to show a couple of new sets of beads using base glasses from Nortel’s CiM glass sampler named Queen’s Court. 

You can order this sampler of 17 colors that are both new and former favourites via Nortel’s new online shopping cart here.

First up - CiM Clockwork is an amazing orange that reminds me of Orange soda pop.  I used it as a based glass encased in clear on which I streamed Double Helix Clio Dark. The hot pinks, blues bloomed over the orange. Very cool result that shifts in iridescence shine from every angle. This glass is showing as sold out on the CiM - Creation Is Messy website, so definitely contact Nortel to order it while it lasts.

When I saw rods of CiM’s Eggplant, Maroon and Monarch, I immediately paired them with silvered ivory stringer to create a rustic bead set that reminded me of of the Queen’s Court in medieval times. The patterns and colors are complimentary and allowed for many bead shapes. 
























Both these sets were made on 3/32 mandrels and perfectly fit on new sterling silver chains that I ordered online over my Christmas holiday.
Looking forward to a few more sessions at the torch to complete the testing of the samplers I have from Nortel. 

Stay warm, til next time.

D.

#creationismessy
#nortel
#QueensCourtSampler
#cimclockwork
#cimeggplant
#cimcmaroon
#cimmonarch

Playground Fun Sampler - Orange Crush, Poison Apple and Blue Arrow Frog!

I am coming to the end of sharing results of three more glass colors contained in the Playground Fun Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colors from Nortel. 

These sampler packs are great for artists that:
- want to "try" a new color without the commitment of purchasing a minimum 1/4 pound of a specific color
- want to create multi-colour beads from a coordinated set of colors.

This CiM sample pack contains a spectrum of crayon-like colors:
- Poison Apple
- Limelight
- Frozen
- Bing
- Orange Crush
- Blue Arrow Frog
- Ocher
- Rainforest

I usually don't work with combinations of bright colors within one set, so I set out to create a set that used the same technique and switched in 3 of the main colors of the set.

I created surface "rivets" of Double Helix silver glass with Psyche and Aurae Light.

These beads are on bases of Blue Arrow Frog, Poison Apple and Orange Crush.

Just for fun, I made a few "playground" beads while testing some color mixing.

The tri-colored beads, made from Frozen, Blue Arrow Frog and Bing reminded me of the ice-pops I would buy at the park for my kids. 

The other beads are my "caterpillar critter beads" created by mixing Frozen, Poison Apple and Orange Crush with dots of Blue Arrow Frog. 
Those made me smile.

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

Smiles,
D.

Playground Fun Sampler - Limelight and Frozen

In this post, I concentrating on testing CiM - Creation is Messy's pale green transparent named Limelight.

Described as "a clean, cool green with no hints of yellow with a tendency to develop micro bubbles". I did see this in the plain spacers, but when I used it to encase, the bubbling was not as noticeable.

It is a beautiful pale tint to encase silver glass reactions. 


In these beads below, I used Limelight as a base and an encasement for Double Helix's Psyche, it's newer Skiron and rare Aurae Light.

First up, the "recipe" was Limelight base, layer of silver glass, encase with more Limelight and scrolls/dots of Aurae Light. 
This green is pure and clean, I really like the result!

Next up, a simpler look of the encased silver glass reaction. The Double Helix Psyche glass was reduced and then encased with Limelight to capture the blues/ pinks and amber hues.

Last but not least, Limelight was tested with Double Helix's newer Skiron which is a silver striking rainbow glass. 
I am always challenged with striking glasses versus those that react with a reduction flame.  I may be due to the fact that I tend to work in a cooler flame, but I thought I would try the same test with Limelight as I did with the results already described above.

So same recipe as the other beads above, but I substituted Skiron for Psyche.
I got more amber than rainbow, so I definitely will need more practice with this new glass.

I paired with bead with Aurae Light spacers and a CiM Frozen bead with dots of Aurae Light. 
Frozen is a opal white that when silver glass is applied turns the surface a pretty golden tint that compliments the silver glass droplets.

Til next post, have a great day!
Smiles,
D.

Playground Fun Sampler - Rainforest & Ocher

This week I am sharing the results of the testing of the glass colors contained in the Playground Fun Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colors from Nortel. 

These sampler packs are great for artists that:
- want to "try" a new color without the commitment of purchasing a minimum 1/4 pound of a specific color
- want to create multi-colour beads from a coordinated set of colors.

This CiM sample pack contains a spectrum of crayon-like colors:
- Poison Apple
- Limelight
- Frozen
- Bing 
- Orange Crush
- Blue Arrow Frog
- Ocher
- Rainforest

First up for testing, this set of silver wrapped barrels made with a combination of Rainforest and Ocher. 

Rainforest is a greenish teal opal and Ocher is a opaque yellow with a mustard seed undertone.

These two glasses kept their true color with no change in reaction to silver creating a earth based set of beads. Both glasses melt smoothly with no stockiness.

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

More color results from this sampler coming up in new posts this week!
Stay Tuned.

Sailor's Delight - CiM Anchor, Splash and Grumpy Bear

This week I am sharing the results of the testing of the glass colours contained in the Sailor's Delight Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colours from Nortel. 

This post combines 3 CiM - Creation Is Messy colours within one bead set:

• CiM Splash
• CiM Grumpy Bear
• CiM Anchor

I have previously tested Splash and Grumpy Bear, check out these posts here!

Anchor is a deep dark transparent blue that actually appears to be black in the rod itself. The blue is so saturated that it seems to be used best as a decoration on a light base.

Below are several angles of the same set. 

 A few of the beads in the set used some silver glass that was reduced to create organic looking droplets. Check out the bumpy bead on the left. It is the same silver glass, but it was reduced to bring forth the green cast and notice how it fumed the grumpy glass with a golden hue.
The bead at the centre bottom is a bead that shows the darkness of Anchor as I created this bead from a twisty of Splash and Anchor. Notice the striations on the left of the bead.

Check out the bead to the right of centre bottom, this was created with a based on CiM Splash and decorated with Anchor and silver glass dots.

This set would be very nice in a simple bracelet with silver accents!

Til next time!

D.

Sailor's Delight Sampler - CiM Atlantis

Today's a quick post on another colour in the CiM- Creation Is Messy sampler. 
This time it is CiM's Atlantis. This colour is described as a bluish teal opal which I think is quite accurate.
This glass can vary in it's translucency depending on the amount of heat applied during the bead making process.

In this set of beads, I paired it with Double Helix Aurae silver glass frit and I am pleased with these glittering rounds!

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

More colour results from this sampler coming up in new posts this week!
Stay Tuned.

D.

Sailor's Delight Sampler - CiM Splash and Grumpy Bear

Happy Sunday everyone!

This post is another instalment of the blues in Nortel's Sailor's Delight colour sampler.

These sampler packs are great for artists that:
- want to "try" a new colour without the commitment of purchasing a minimum 1/4 pound of a specific colour
- want to create multi-colour beads from a coordinated set of colours.

The colours used in these beads are CiM's Splash and Grumpy Bear. 

As shown in the previous post, Splash is a light blue transparent that melts easily and is great for encasing. On the CiM website, it was noted that "Splash is a variation of Halong Bay that did not come out as an opal, but as a transparent instead".

CiM's Grumpy Bear is an opaque periwinkle blue just like the CareBear character. As a periwinkle it does create some reactions based on what you combine with it, so I tested it in this faux "vessel" shaped bead with some handmade frit and a wrapping of fine silver wire. 
This is where you see a slight bit of the reaction where the wire touches the Grumpy Bear.

I encased the bead's Grumpy Bear base with Splash and created the ends of the barrel shaped bead and a final quick wrap of more silver.

Check out the few photos below show it from a couple of perspectives and it is paired with the solid periwinkle opaque spacer beads.

Til next time,
D.

Sailor's Delight - Splash & Jetstream

This post shares another couple of colours in the Sailor's Delight Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colors from Nortel. 

Like the last blog post, the spaces in this set are made from CiM - Creation is Messy Jetstream, the deep blue transparent.

The focal bead combines Jetstream with a lighter blue transparent from CiM called Splash.

Blue transparents are always nice when paired with fine silver, and a quick wrap of the 99% fine wire was all it needed to create a simple yet elegant bead set for office or casual wear.

As always, I encourage you to reach out to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

More colour results from this sampler coming up in new posts this week!
Stay Tuned.

D.

Sailor's Delight - CiM Jetstream

A new colour tests of the Sailor's Delight Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colours from Nortel. 

This focal bead was created with CiM - Creation is Messy's Jetstream. This transparent blue is a hue that can be compared to a deep sapphire blue which you can see in the spacer bead.
I paired it with some Double Helix Triton silver glass as well as a wrapping of 99% fine silver wire. After I shaped it into a barrel, I decided it needed more bling. 

I created the ruffle and dipped it into Triton fine frit. After multiple meltings and reductions, the silver metallic shine came through.
This is definitely a unique bead and I am pleased with how it transformed.

The photos below show the bead from a few different perspectives.

Happy Friday!
D.

Sailor's Delight Sampler - CiM Birthstone and Fremen!

This week I am sharing the results of the testing of the glass colours contained in the Sailor's Delight Sampler pack of CiM - Creation is Messy colours from Nortel. 

These sampler packs are great for artists that:
- want to "try" a new colour without the commitment of purchasing a minimum 1/4 pound of a specific colour
- want to create multi-colour beads from a coordinated set of colours.

This sample pack is heavy on blue coloured rods, so let's get started with CiM Birthstone!
NOTE: According to the CiM website, this colour is SOLD OUT - But Nortel has it in stock. How great is that - Yippee.

I love this transparent blue glass that is just aqua enough to be beautiful when paired with Double Helix silver glass. 
Below the set shows the glass as spacers along with a focal bead with metallic scrolls. So pretty.

This next focal bead used another rod from the CiM sampler named Fremen. 

CiM's Fremen is a sky blue opaque glass  and it was paired with CiM Birthstone to create this vessel bead. 

Some 99% pure silver wire was wrapped around the top and you can see the slight reaction of the fuming of the silver where is connected to the Fremen sky blue opaque glass. 

There was no reaction when the silver touched the CiM Birthstone.

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

More colour results from this sampler coming up in new posts this week!
Stay Tuned.

D.

CiM Earth Sampler - Last Few Color Results

This post is a follow-up on the results of remaining rods in the CiM - Creation is Messy Earth rod sampler from Nortel.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had set of beads in the tumbler made with CiM's Painted Hills, Autumn and Pistachio Ice Cream. 

The color hues in these 3 glass are quite subtle so tumbling the beads created a "pottery" look to the beads with the shades of light green, yellow and peachy brown.

Notice that these glasses also produce striations in the glass that is also enhanced when tumbled to a smooth matte finish.

I also finished testing the last 2 colours and can share these sets as well

CiM Mink is a gray opal brown. The beads remind me of a translucent chocolate or coffee. In this set, I used a silvered ivory stringer to create dots and surface lines and the effect is quite pretty.

CiM Dirty Laundry is an opalescent off white. In the focal bead, I added handblown silver glass shards made from Double Helix Clio. This silver glass turns to an amber pink and fumed the surface of the base glass with a golden surface. 

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

Til next time,
D.

Earth Sampler - New Testing of a Nortel Sampler pack!

This week I am sharing the results of the testing of the glass colors contained in the Sampler pack of Earth colors by CiM - Creation is Messy. 

As I mentioned in my last post, these sampler packs are great for artists that:

- want to "try" a new color without the commitment of purchasing a minimum 1/4 pound of a specific color

- want to create multi-colour beads from a coordinated set of colors.

The second sampler that has Earth based hues contains the following colors:

Allspice 511723

Maple 511780

Mink 511788

Adamantium 511874

Painted Hills 511313

Autumn 511720

Pistachio Ice Cream 511440

Ecru 511821

Dirty Laundry 511818

As I love using silver glass in my testing, this post shares some big hole bead sets using silver glass frit and some handmade shards.

First up is CiM Allspice - an opal brown. Although this glass is showing as Sold Out on the CiM- Creation Is Messy website, it is readily available through Nortel.

Within this set I paired Allspice with Double Helix Helios silver glass. It is a great base glass with little to no shockiness when melting. The reduction of the silver glass did produce an interesting fuming on the surface with a blue hue.

Next up is CiM Maple, a transparent warm golden brown just like the yummy rich dark syrup. The spacers show the rich brown that is quite unique for glass bead makers.
The focal bead is a bubble bead with layers of Helios silver glass over the base of Maple. The dots of glass were reduced, encased in clear and then pierced and encased again to capture the bubbles. 

CiM Ecru is an off-white opal glass. It melted smoothly and much easier than the Effetre opalinos that tend to shock and explode in the flame if not treated gingerly. The focal bead in this set used encased dots of a Double Helix silver “mystery” glass that produced blues and green reactions when encased. This glass was easy to shape and this set contains 2 round and 2 cube spacers.

Last color to share in this post is CiM Adamantium. This opaque warm dark grey is one of my favourite neutrals and In previous tests it never disappointed. Click Here for some of my previous creations with this glass.

This set used Double Helix Helios handmade shards. When reduced, lots of blue was revealed in the shards which is a beautiful contrast to the grey base glass.

Stay tuned this week for the remainder of this sampler packs testing. I have a set of beads in the tumbler right now that I am looking forward to sharing made with CiM's Painted Hills, Autumn and Pistachio Ice Cream. Until then, click the links below to see some of the other beads made with these glass. 

Painted Hills Bead Sets

Pistachio Ice Cream

I still have a rod of CiM Mink and CiM Dirty Laundry waiting on the bench to be tested later today.

As always, I encourage you to reach our to Jean at Nortel to pick up a sampler or two.

Happy Sunday Everyone!